Republican politician suggests party hire private militia to protect them against the left

An Oregon Republican has suggested bringing in a private militia to defend conservatives against what he called “increasing political polarisation ”.

James Buchal, chair of the Multnomah County GOP, said that Republicans need added protection for threats against their free-speech rights.

Mr Buchal’s suggestion, first reported by The Guardian, comes on the heels of a stabbing in Portland, in which two men died trying to defend Muslim women from hate speech by an alleged extremist.

Mr Buchal told The Independent he sympathises with those involved in the stabbing, but feels that conservatives in Portland are under attack as well.

“I don’t know what those two women experienced on that bus last week,” he said. “But I know that our members have experienced very vicious and escalating verbal abuse just from standing at little booths in Portland street fairs.”

As evidence, Mr Buchal, cited the recent cancellation of an annual parade.

In April, organisers of the Avenue of Roses Parade received an anonymous email threatening to “rush into the parade” and “drag and push out” members of the Republican party who participated. The email linked to several Facebook events plotting to shut down the parade. Mr Buchal said the Facebook pages contained further threats of violence.

Some conservative organisers responded with threats of their own. The parade organisers decided to shut the event down.

"Following threats of violence during the Parade by multiple groups planning to disrupt the event, 82nd Avenue of Roses Business Association can no longer guarantee the safety of our community and have made the difficult decision to cancel the Parade," the association said in an email to the press.

Mr Buchal said the incident proves conservatives in Oregon need increased protection.

“I don't know what we’re going to do about it,” he said, “but I do know there are people who see themselves as sheepdogs arising in a time where people need to be protected as wolves.”

Among the “sheepdog” groups Mr Buchal suggested to The Guardian are the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the Oath Keepers as “one of the largest radical antigovernment groups in the US today”. The Three Percenters are a loosely organised group whose stated goal is to “reign in an overreaching government and push back against tyranny”.

Asked whether the public police department could be used to provide protection instead, Mr Buchal said he didn't understand the question.

“Portland has, I think, fewer police than it has ever had in its history,” he said. “They don’t have the manpower to deal with … they’re not equipped to deal with this sort of thing.”

Sergeant Pete Simpson, the public information officer for the Portland Police Bureau, confirmed that the bureau had shrunk by about 95 officers in the last 15 years due to budget cuts. But, he cautioned, bringing in "private, untrained security forces into a city they may be unfamiliar with" would create more of a public security risk than they would fix.

Mr Buchal emphasised that utilising private militia groups is just one solution he is considering, but could not list any others.

Following last week’s stabbing, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler shut down two rallies planned for June – including one organized by far-right leader Joey Gibson. The suspect in the stabbing had attended rallies organised by Mr Gibson in the past.

Mr Buchal said the rallies were shut down because of “violent thugs who will come up to oppose these messages”.

Mr Wheeler, however, said he called for the rallies to be shut down because their messages of “bigotry or hatred” have no place in Portland.

“Our city is in mourning, our community’s anger is real, and the timing and subject of these events can only exacerbate an already difficult situation,” he said in a statement.

Mr Buchal said the recent cancellations are evidence of a larger problem, in which conservatives are maligned by mainstream society.

“What I am concerned about more broadly is that there is sort of a concerted effort underway to brand anyone who wishes to defend the constitution and defend free speech as some sort of vicious racist,” he said. “And I don’t think that’s reasonable or fair.”